Watch M6 Replay Outside France

One of the things I love with this blog is the little stories I get from people trying to accessing different sites, they want to know if anonymous surfing can help them. From desperate Formula One fans stuck in the middle of nowhere who want to watch a certain race, to Rugby and Football fans all over the world. Well here’s the latest one I got an email from a French chap working in Nigeria who was kinda homesick. What he wanted to access was a media site called M6 Replay, and he wanted to know if Identity Cloaker’s French Proxy would help him access this site.

Well I always make sure I check these sites before answering, Identity Cloaker can usually help you get access if they have a server in the right country but I always like to check myself.

On a side note I should also mention, that remember Identity Cloaker is a security product, it’s designed to encrypt and protect your connection when you’re online. However encryption can slightly slow down your browsing, it’s normally not noticeable but with video streaming like M6 replay it can have an impact – so always use the encryption off button when you’re watching video online. So following on from my anonymous proxy list posts and in addition to those about Pandora, BBC iPlayer, ITV and a few others here’s the next installment as we move to a French proxy.

Watch M6 Replay in USA or UK  – Use a French Proxy Server

Now this site is actually very slick, the user interface is simple but impressive. It is run by M6 the second largest commercial broadcaster in France. Basically it’s very similar set up to BBC iPlayer designed to allow viewers to catch up with their favorite M6 shows online. You seem to have about 14 days after a show has broadcast to view but after that it disappears from the site. But do you need a French Proxy to watch the station?

Well I’m not exactly sure, but I think you do – here’s me trying to access a show called Medium on the M6 Replay site.  Now normally I’d expect some sort of apology message about my location here, but all that seemed to happen was, well nothing, it just didn’t work.  The screenshot is from IE 7 accessing M6 from the UK.

 

Time to Try a French Proxy Server

Something not quite right here, so I fired up Identity Cloaker and selected a French Proxy server.  Now currently there are quite a few French servers in the Identity Cloaker proxy network, although they’re not busy so it doesn’t look like there’s great demand there yet.  In contrast to the UK proxy and many people who use the German proxy as well.  Here’s a screenshot from the Identity Cloaker main screen, remember to make sure you disable the encryption when watching video streaming.

I’ve highlighted the encryption setting, and you can see the French Proxy in the main screen.  It’s pretty quick for me but  I would advice checking through the trial or speaking to Identity Cloaker directly before spending money on the full subscription.

Anyway I selected the French Proxy, and connected through that server.  (Just select a proxy in the country you need!)

This is the simplest way to bypass the geo-restriction that these media sites use, so I was hoping this would work.   All my browsing now would be sent via a French Proxy server, so hopefully M6 Replay would allow me to watch the content now.

After connecting, you can see how most sites on the internet manipulate what you see depending on your location, because I appear to originate from France, I now get Google.FR displayed.

M6 Reply in UK or US – Needs a French Proxy

So remember if you do any searching when connected to a different proxy server you’ll get results tailored to that location.

It can be quite interesting to see what results a Google search in the US , Sweden or France will reveal but if you’re googling for a local plumber it can also be very annoying !

Anyway I digress, the mission was to access M6 Replay site so I reconnected to see if I had better luck masquerading as a Frenchman through my French proxy.

Well this time it just worked, I got no warning or messages, and after the advertisement at the beginning of the show – it just started streaming.  Performance was fine but remember I am in the UK so not so far away from the French Proxy servers, although I do have a very slow internet connection as well –

I suggest testing with the trial first though –

10 day trial

Here’s a video demonstration that’s currently on YouTube.

The M6 Replay site was actually very impressive, it’s very easy to use and there are some excellent shows on there.   I have been letting my kids watch some of the French kids TV shows on there to help with their languages.  I haven’t used it extensively though yet so will update this post with my experiences and a video shortly.  Unfortunately there’s no reliable French proxy free of charge that I could find but some decent low coast alternatives.

Let me know if you need help accessing any channels though, I’m happy to test them on my Identity Cloaker subscription, they currently have as well as french proxy server  some in Germany, Holland, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Sweden too.